


epiphany

by miilkteas



Category: Free!
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Haruka is oblivious as hell, Implied Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, Laser Tag, M/M, rinharu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 11:33:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11334849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miilkteas/pseuds/miilkteas
Summary: haruka never set much in store for laser tag. [ implied reigisa, rinharu ]





	epiphany

**Author's Note:**

> rinharu are my sons :') and yes i've been writing more cliche prompts but shh

Haruka liked swimming free.

He also liked eating mackerel.

He liked Rin very much as well.

I suppose this is relevant because Haruka didn’t really like anything outside those three things, so now we have to play the “one of these things is not like the other” game. Rin Matsuoka was what you’d call a sin, and Haruka was more than oblivious to his raging crush on his childhood friend despite what Nagisa constantly told him (that is, when he wasn’t making out with Rei.) Despite it all, he was very happy with his life, thank you very much. He swam often, Makoto supplied him with all the mackerel he needed when he ran out, and he raced Rin whenever they could find the time.

So who cared if he paid extra attention to Rin?

Everyone else did apparently, because Gou was hellbent on making them a couple and he recently got a call from Seijuro congratulating him on his new relationship (to that, he said a puzzled ‘thank you’ before hanging up.) 

When Nagisa enthusiastically dragged him to the laser tag place, he had failed to mention that he had invited the Samezuka team as well. Haruka couldn’t really complain. The last time they played a game together, he had enjoyed himself (but that was just because Rin had sprayed him with the nectar of the gods: water!) 

“Haru-chan!” he whined. “Why can’t you walk as fast as you swim?”

He walked faster when he caught a glimpse of scarlet red hair, which did not go amiss by the small blond. Nagisa bounced up excitedly, plowing forward with Haruka in tow. Momotarou was the first to notice them. “And here I thought Nanase-kun wouldn’t even show up.”   


“Well no one ever told me,” he replied slightly defensively.

There was a slightly awkward lull before Sosuke suggested they head inside, which Haruka was grateful for. Nagisa was already thinking of possible teams, but since they didn’t have straws to draw, they decided to stick with their own teams.

While the blond was busy taunting Momotarou and Nitori, Rei was examining his laser gun to disguise the his frequent glances at Nagisa. They all prepared their gear, knowing that laser tag was a game that destroyed friendships. There was still a distinct awkwardness between Haruka and Sosuke, but the mood was rather merry anyways. 

Nitori was practically shaking with anticipation, much to Nagisa’s amusement. “Another fateful shootout between the two swim teams…”

“Rules are like last time,” Rin explained with his signature smirk. “One hour on the clock and a five minute grace period. Every person you shoot gets you one point. Getting shot loses your team a point, and you have a 30 second respawn. Team with the most points wins. Good luck.”

“Three, two one, go,” Momo yelled all of a sudden, and both swim teams collided and crashed before diving into the arena. 

It was  _ so _ on.

With the Samezuka team out of sight, the Iwatobi boys found their way to one end of the arena, where they crouched down to start planning. Rei immediately was thinking of ways to use the neon lights to their advantage, but he wasn’t making sense to anyone. 

“I have a brilliant plan,” he cried, but the others more or less ignored him, too engrossed in coming up with a strategy that was actually simple and didn’t involve an elaborate booby trap customized to take out specific people. 

“Everyone should shoot freely,” Haruka suggested.

Nagisa let out a small groan of frustration. “That’s what you said last time we played a game with Samezuka. We lost if you haven’t remembered.” 

“Okay, new plan then I guess,” he muttered, all too disappointed at the memory of losing to Rin—he liked water a lot, okay? All eyes turned to Makoto.

“Let’s go in pairs and stay close to each other—that way, if one group gets ambushed, it’s possible to help each other,” he decided. Since no one could trust Rei to have a foolproof plan anyways, they decided that mother Makoto knew best. 

The buzzer went off, signaling that their grace period had come to a close. Immediately, Nagisa linked arms with Rei (who was still mumbling about how the lights would affect their reaction times) and waltzed off into the neon maze, Haruka and Makoto following swiftly if not slightly clumsily behind them.

In the span of a minute or two, the latter had fallen behind, although the sound of lasers going off was enough to alert them to Samezuka’s presence. 

An ambush!

Haruka gritted his teeth, aiming his gun in the direction where he saw a flash of a red chest piece. Nitori bawled when it turned green, a symbol for being shot. It was too early to begin celebrating. Several feet ahead, Rei had unfortunately been shot by someone, and Nagisa couldn’t dodge the lasers forever.

There was a small beep behind Haruka, who barely managed to dodge Rin’s attack. His eyes quickly flashed back and forth, swiftly taking a sharp right corner. 

Getting separated from the others certainly wasn’t his plan, but Nitori would soon be back in play and he doubted Rei’s aggressiveness when playing laser tag. He made several sharp turns and went up and around the course—Rin unsurprisingly was able to keep up with him.

_ Of course Rin  _ had _ to look all hot while running, _ he mumbled to himself.  _ Golden Boy Rin  _ always _ looked good doing anything. _

He managed to keep his rival at bay with a few shots of his gun, but it wouldn’t be long before he caught up with Haruka. Rin was a better runner than he was, and besides, Haruka really didn’t understand why he had a sudden urge to just stand there and make out with the bastard.

“Ooh, is somebody tired?” Rin cackled, preparing to go in for the kill. Haruka had leaned against a wall, his gun held casually at his side with no intention of moving.

He sighed. “Yeah, something like that.”

Translation: Haruka Nanase was very much tired of why he had such raging emotions for Rin—it  _ certainly _ couldn’t be a crush—and he very much wanted to know what Rin’s lips tasted like. So yes, one could say that he was tired.

“Well today’s your lucky day, Nanase. I’m tired too,” he said with his usual wicked grin, settling in next to him. “They’ll be fine without us for a little while.”

Haruka agreed very much with the latter statement because hey, it meant more time with Rin. There was a small pause; several beeps of laser guns went off in the distance. “Say Rin—do you like anyone?”

“You’ve never brought this kinda stuff up,” he remarked. “But yeah, you can say I like someone. They’re too oblivious to figure it out.”

Well this certainly got his attention—Haruka’s shoulders drooped slightly, although he couldn’t really explain why. So Rin liked someone. “I see.”

“Do you like anyone? Besides water of course."

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

Rin raised an eyebrow. “How can you not know? You either want to kiss the sense out of them or you don’t. Who’s the unlucky girl?”

He didn’t say anything for a minute or two, letting the beeps and thundering of footsteps lull him into a sleepy trance. Did he want to kiss the living daylights out of Rin? And did that mean he liked him? “Never kissed a person before.”

“We could change that,” Rin offered casually.

Never had someone’s mouth looked so incredibly tantalizing. 

Haruka licked his lips slowly, unable to fully comprehend what Rin was implying. There was no denying that he was an attractive person—but this was Rin, his close friend from childhood and here they were still competing with each other until this day. Perhaps he really did like Rin, and he leaned in first.

It was an awkward smashing of the lips, to say the least. Rin had been caught slightly off guard, and it took a moment for the two of them to gain a sort of rhythm. It wasn’t an amazing first kiss—either that, or the movies were all big fat liars—but Haruka couldn’t help but find it enjoyable despite the fact that the neon lights were all too bright and there was still a game going on. 

He had to finally admit it—he liked this guy a lot. 

Nagisa had told him numerous times that he liked Rin, but of course Haruka agreed and said their friendship was very solid—not to mention all the times Rei shoved his glasses up and claimed that his relationship calculations were correct once again. 

They finally broke apart, breathless. Haruka mildly noted with a small pout, “It could have been better.”

So they were kissing again, this time with much more intensity and noticeably less lip-smashing. Haruka was lightheaded and on cloud nine. It was like he won the lottery for a lifetime supply of mackerel. 

That was, until there was a small beep and his chest piece suddenly glowed a blinding green.

Rin, still pressed up against him, had shot him. He had kissed Haruka—Haruka fucking Nanase, for your information—and scored a point for his team: two birds with one stone. “Samezuka sends their regards.” 

With that wicked smirk of his, he disappeared around a corner, leaving Haruka very dumbfounded and unbelievably flustered. Spoiler: Iwatobi lost.


End file.
